CHARGERS: Vasher is eager for a clean slate

Former Bears cornerback hopes to recapture his Pro Bowl form

SAN DIEGO -- Injuries sapped his momentum. Playing time
dwindled. His angst grew.

Five years removed from a Pro Bowl second season with the
Chicago Bears, Nathan Vasher's jaw certainly didn't drop when he
learned of his release last March.

The 28-year-old cornerback expected the move, even welcomed it
as a means of reviving a career that began so auspiciously under
the wings of former Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera.

Paired again with Rivera in San Diego ---- not to mention former
Bears defensive backs coach Steven Wilks -- Vasher is hoping that
familiarity aids in his fight for playing time with a Chargers team
in need of experienced veterans in its quest to remain a Super Bowl
contender.

"I think it was a no-brainer for me," Vasher said between
workouts Wednesday in preparation for his new team's preseason
opener against his old Bears teammates Saturday at Qualcomm
Stadium. "You feel like you have an opportunity to do some special
things in the season, as far as always having an opportunity to win
a championship with a talented group of guys. ... With all the
familiar faces here, it was just icing on the cake. I think it was
a perfect fit for me."

Vasher's fit in Chicago was seemingly locked up through the
first part of this decade after he signed a five-year, $28 million
extension after the 2006 season. The 5-foot-11 Vasher earned that
raise, too, starting in seven games as a rookie -- and picking off
five passes -- as a fourth-round draft pick out of Texas in 2004
and finishing among the league leaders with eight interceptions
during a Pro Bowl second season.

By the time he finished his third NFL season -- when he started
13 games for the Super Bowl-bound Bears -- Vasher's natural,
ball-hawking instincts had not only etched his name in the Bears
record book (his eight interceptions in 2005 rank third in
franchise history), they reserved a spot for him in NFL history,
too. His 108-yard touchdown return of a missed field goal in 2005
stood as an NFL record until former Charger Antonio Cromartie
dashed 109 yards on a missed field goal against the Jets two years
later.

"He was a guy that had a great sense of what was going on, in
terms of reading the opponent, understanding what was happening,"
said Rivera, who served as the Bears' defensive coordinator between
2004 and 2006. "And he plays taller than he is. You look at him,
and he's kind of a smaller guy. But then you watch him stretch out
for a ball, and you say, 'OK, he's pretty athletic.' "

Then the decline started. A partially torn groin injury limited
Vasher to four games in 2007, and a wrist injury cost him more than
half the season in 2008. Finally healthy last season, Vasher
started just two games and totaled 13 tackles in sparse action,
with the final blow to his status with the Bears coming on the
50-yard, game-winning touchdown pass he yielded in the season
opener at Green Bay.